Yappy ending for puppy flushed down toilet

A puppy in Britain has had a lucky escape after a four-year-old boy accidentally flushed it down the toilet when he was trying to wash it, the Daily Mirror newspaper reports.

The week-old cocker spaniel's young owner, Daniel Blair, thought the puppy needed a wash after it got muddy playing in the garden, so he put it in the toilet and flushed it.

But his plan went disastrously wrong when the animal was swept away and became trapped in a waste pipe for nearly four hours.

Firefighters and animal welfare officers could not reach it, so Daniel's mother eventually called a plumber, who found the dog lying upside down in a pipe about 20 metres away from their house in Northolt, west London.

The dog - which has been named Dyno after the plumbing firm which rescued it - is now safe and well and back with the family.

Daniel has apologised, blaming his twin brother for getting the dog dirty and saying: "I had to give him a wash. I'm so, so sorry. I won't do it again."